Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-09-23
IN THE CEMETERIES.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CRESENT
CITY'S QUAINT GRAyEYARDS.

New Orleans Queer Tombs snd Inscrip.
tions-Gnarled Oaks and Funeral Moss.
A Spot Where Everything Is Bright
and Clean-MarhI. u--
GLOW will we get into the cemeterics!"
we ask the friend who has pointed out the
car that will take US to three Of the most
noted. 'The gates are always open; there
will be no trouble about entering" The
car starts; she bows and trips down the
street-a dear little lady in widows dress
to her work in q great Office, while we
spin along on our holiday jaunt to the
place of the dead. A white wall, gnarled
oaks, with their sad funeral moss, glossy
magnolia trees, with white buds scarcely
showing in their tight calyx wrappings OF
green-that is our first outside view of
the cemetery. Then, through the open
gate we walk into q place, level, green,
moundless. 1t is one of the older ceme-
teries, an avenue Of superb oaks conducts
through its center. The spectral moss
rocks back and forth across the shadowy
way. It has no rustic, no sound. It
seems q symbol Of an old yet unforgetting
grief; q sign Of sorrow for the dead
after 1t has subsided from tears and sobs.
On the t0mbs In this cemetery are
carved the old French names, with crosses
or crests; and on projecting hooks fastened
in the cement Of the wall hang remem,
brances SO ugly that even loving sentimen.
cannot make them other than dissertations
to the eye; those skeleton wreaths of black.
wire strung beads that shine with
mockery Of mourning, or those chalky
white ones that seem like clowns in
tragedy. How grotesque appears human
ity's expression Of deepest feeling beside
the gray moss that mourns overhead and
bright roses that smile from below, where
sweet natures sympathy and consolation
mingle in this place Of bereavement 70
tenderly, SO tastefully.
Out of this old cemetery we 70 to q
neighboring one, dazzling as this one is
somber. Here the moss, and the beads,
and the foreign names serve TO make one
feel out OF this world, in lonesome place
apart from ones own. But in the neigh
boring spot death is beautiful, joyous
never cemetery that seemed so brilliant,
30 clean, SO clear. There is no sign Of the
ancient oak; all the trees are glossy of leaf
and perfumed-magnolias that rustic and
shine, and break out anon in fairest and
widest OF flowers. The grass Is not
wrinkled with graves; it is smooth and
clean, stretched out into the. sunshine
without flower or headstone. The walks
are wide, weedless, formed of finely pull
verized white shells. Along these white
roads, like dwellings along q street, are
the family tombs, entirely above ground,
each separate, In its own unfenced yard Of
green. /
LIKE SMALL DWELLINGS. f
The tombs are eight to ten feet apart
and six or eight from the edge Of the road,
each approached from the roadway by q
narrow marble footwalk. They are of
white marble and shaped like small dwell
ings. They are two or three stories in
height; that Is, about ten or twelve feet
and proportional neatly: the roof, Of mar
BILE, is turreted, gothic, domed or pagoda
shaped. The effect Of these marble
houses, close on either side the avenue,
with tho little spaces Of green between
them and the wide, unbroken lawn back
OF them, the tombs following the curves
OF the road, and leaving in one sheet tho
level ground between. give an order and
sense OF breathing space such as our own
graveyards can never have. The marble
doors Of the palaces of the dead shut
within. In the little dooryards are always
flowers Of the choicest kind, SO thst the
white road, accentuated by the white
structures at q uniform distance back
from It, Is 50 bordered along its edge
by these adjoining flower plants a
to make continuous parterre Of
color-the only relief in tho white
and green of the large cemetery
grounds. There are no flowers anywhere
else. The effect ID exquisits-the effect
produced by separately massing solors;
the curving road, white a untrodden
snow, the long lines Of brilliant flowers on
either side, edged by the wide rows Of
glistening marble tombs, backed by the
green grass and scattering trees, which
make the center Of the place park IKE
expanse. .Is
In another cemetery, q little more
tangled than this, and . little less somber
than the other, was attracted by nm i'm
mense pyramid shaped structure of rough
granite rocks, some twelve or fifteen feet
square at its base. It was Of unusual size.
shape and color, and stood near the e..
trance portal. remember that the IN.
scrfption commemorated the virtues Of y,
dead wife, and depicted the longing of til.
living consort; it stated how long they
had lived together, that they had no child,
and were all the world to one another.
that the hereaved husband was the last o,
his race and family, and this tomb held AL
that was precious to his heart. Chicago
Timee. fvr IL I'll -